Nude portrait by Modigliani sets record at auction; nude painting by Freud sells for $38.8 million

The recent London auction of a private art collection curated by Joe Lewis, the former owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, made headlines for its record-breaking sales. The auction, which featured 48 works by renowned artists such as Picasso, Magritte, and Klimt, brought in a staggering $392.6 million over two days.

One of the standout pieces from the auction was an Amedeo Modigliani nude portrait titled “Nu assis au collier” (Seated Nude Wearing a Necklace), which set a new European record by selling for $63.9 million. Another notable sale was Gustav Klimt’s full-length society portrait “Bildnis Gertrud Loew,” which fetched $47.9 million from a private collector in Asia.

One of the most intriguing works in the collection was Lucian Freud’s “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” a nude depiction of his model and muse Sue Tilley. The painting, which had been in the Lewis Collection since 1996, sold for $38.8 million. Tilley, who was working in an unemployment office when she met Freud, reflected on how the paintings he made of her in the 1990s had changed her life.

The auction also featured works by artists of the Vienna Secession movement, including Egon Schiele, as well as modernist and surrealist works by Rene Magritte and Pablo Picasso. Among the pieces going under the hammer was Picasso’s “Buste de femme” (Bust of a woman) from 1938, valued at £12-18 million.

The sale of the Lewis Collection is reminiscent of the record-setting auction of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge’s art collection in 2009, which sold for 373.9 million euros. In March, four paintings from the Lewis Collection by British artists sold for £35.8 million at Sotheby’s.

Overall, the London auction was a testament to the enduring appeal and value of fine art. As the art market continues to thrive, collectors and enthusiasts eagerly anticipate future blockbuster sales and record-breaking prices.